Big lead holds up for Crescenta Valley softball against Burbank
Stakes are rising as the Pacific League softball schedule reaches its conclusion and when Crescenta Valley High and Burbank faced off, one was battling to keep pace on top while the latter was looking to stay in the final playoff position.
It was Crescenta Valley that rose up, turning a quick start into a grind-it-out 8-5 Pacific League victory over Burbank at McCambridge Park Thursday afternoon.
“We knew [Burbank] was going to grind. We knew they were going to grind and we were just going to grind with them,” CV Coach Amanda Peek said. “That was our focus; every single inning we wanted to win that inning.”
With the win, the Falcons (18-7-1, 10-2 in league) stayed tied atop the Pacific League standings with co-leaders Burroughs and Arcadia. Arcadia defeated Glendale, which also kept Burbank (11-13, 7-5) a game ahead for fourth place.
The Falcons win came in no small part to a quick start that saw Crescenta Valley lead, 6-0, after an inning and a half.
Falcon Jessica Yzaguirre led off with a bunt single for the first of her three hits. Three batters later, a Maddie De Leon single loaded the bases. A walk to Viviana Bocanegra forced in the first run. Sophomore Ryan Eldred followed with a single to right field that scored two more and the visitors led, 3-0.
CV started Emily Mulcahey, who is still suffering from strep throat, kept the Bulldogs off the board in the bottom of the frame. The Falcons then put three more runs on the board in the top of the second. De Leon did the most damage with a two-run triple into the left-center field gap. Bocanegra got her second RBI of the game with a single to score De Leon and CV had an early 6-0 cushion.
“I just wanted to put runs on the board and help my team beat Burbank,” De Leon said.
Burbank started the climb back in the bottom of the second on a single by Bene Snyder for the host’s first run. The Bulldogs plated two more in the third to cut the CV advantage in half when Sarah Garelick swatted a single into center field with two outs.
The Bulldogs comeback continued in the fourth inning with another run. It came off the bat of Melissa Daniels with two outs. The junior swatted a double that scored Amaya Broyls, who had reached on a single.
Crescenta Valley took some of the pressure off with two insurance runs in the sixth. The first came on the only error by either squad. The next three Falcons reached base on a walk and two singles. The second one was by Peyton Hause, scoring Kristy Twix, who had reached on the error.
“We made a couple mental mistakes that are not going to show up in the scorebook,” Burbank Coach Mike Delaney said. “When you do that, you are asking for trouble.”
Burbank kept at it and started the bottom of the seventh with two straight hits. Erin Lashkari led off with a triple to deep center field. Macie Jensen followed up with a single to bring Lashkaari home, but Mulcahey sat the next three batters down, ending the game with her fourth strikeout of the contest.
“That was definitely all a team win,” Mulcahey said. “They kept me in the game, no question.”
Despite the 13 combined runs, both teams, each of which had 12 hits, left a tremendous amount of runs on base. The Bulldogs stranded 10 and at least one in every inning. The victorious Falcons stranded a whopping 16.
“We did leave a lot of runners on base. That is something we did discuss and something we are going to fix,” Peek said.
Up next for Burbank is a home contest with Hoover before finishing with rival Burroughs. League-leading Crescenta Valley hosts Muir before ending the regular season with a showdown against Arcadia.